KEY POINTS

• Southeast integration under Tinubu is easing separatist sentiment.
• Major federal road projects are reshaping regional confidence.
• Southeast integration under Tinubu is driving strategic political shifts.

Nigeria’s Minister of Works, David Umahi, has dismissed renewed calls for a separate Biafran state, arguing that the political and economic conditions that once fueled separatist sentiment in the Southeast no longer exist.

Speaking during an inspection of ongoing federal projects across the region, Umahi said the Southeast has become deeply integrated into Nigeria’s national development agenda under President Bola Tinubu, largely through long-delayed infrastructure investments.

“There will be no need for Biafra again,” Umahi said, pointing to what he described as a sharp decline in feelings of marginalisation among Igbo communities. He said previous agitation was rooted in exclusion, but that dynamic has shifted under the current administration.

Southeast integration under Tinubu gains ground

Umahi said the scale and pace of federal road construction in the Southeast mark a clear break from past administrations, where projects stalled for years without completion. He listed several highways that had languished for more than a decade but are now nearing delivery.

Umahi said RCC is handling a major section of the road under an MTN-backed arrangement valued at N202 billion and expects to complete it by February next year. He added that SKCC is constructing another 72-kilometre stretch at a cost of N150 billion and has already received 30 percent of the funding.

He cited the Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway, Owerri–Onitsha Expressway and Section 2B of the Second Niger Bridge, valued at N176 billion, as evidence of renewed federal commitment. Other projects include the Enugu–Abakaliki Road at N172 billion and a N424 billion corridor stretching 123 kilometres from Ndibe Beach in Ebonyi State to the Benue border.

Southeast integration under Tinubu reshapes politics

Umahi said the focus is not just on speed but durability, noting that the Tinubu administration favors concrete roads designed to last between 50 and 100 years, similar to the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway model.

Beyond infrastructure, Umahi framed political realignment in the region as strategic rather than ideological. He further described his own support for Tinubu and the recent defection of the Enugu State governor to the All Progressives Congress as calculated moves to secure long-term relevance for the Southeast.

“We cannot retake our rightful position by sentiment and venomous statements,” he said. “It is by realities and being strategic.”

Umahi praised governors in the region, including his successor in Ebonyi State, for focusing on delivery rather than ceremony. He concluded that the moment represents a turning point for the Southeast.

“This is our time,” he said, adding that Tinubu’s presidency has opened a window for reintegration and influence within Nigeria’s political mainstream.